Goodbye, Tribune Tower

Built in 1925, the neo-Gothic Tribune Tower was designed by New York architects Raymond Hood and John Mead Howells, who won a contest held by Tribune co-publishers Robert R. McCormick and Joseph Patterson to create the newspaper's new HQ. It was named a Chicago landmark in 1989.

Editorial BoardEditorials reflect the opinion of the Editorial Board, as determined by the members of the board, the editorial page editor and the publisher.

The work of the Tribune Editorial Board includes inviting government officials or political candidates to meet with us in our boardroom — sometimes for a formal interview, sometimes a campaign season debate. Our guests often have confided they were intimidated by the gravitas of the setting: neo-Gothic Tribune Tower, Chicago’s ornate 93-year-old cathedral of journalism.

Just imagine the first-time candidate for office arriving in the high-ceilinged, travertine-marbled lobby of this proud, steadfast structure. One blink to get situated and the visitor is confronted with the Tribune’s sober watchdog mission. Carved on the walls are noble quotations from historical figures about the role of the press in preserving a free society.

Was it an unfair advantage we held over those who came calling? It didn’t hurt that even before being ushered to our lair and asked a budget or policy question, the visitor had been lectured in the hallway by Benjamin Rush (“Newspapers are the sentinels of the liberties of our country”), warned by Lord Macaulay (“Where there is a free press the governors must live in constant awe of the opinions of the governed”) and hectored by Thomas Jefferson (“Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press and that can not be limited without being lost.”)

We’ve loved working at Tribune Tower. We felt privileged to come through the revolving doors of the most spectacular building in Chicago, walking past those etched admonitions. If walls could talk, says the cliche. Well, the walls of Tribune Tower did speak to us, uplifting us in our daily toils, reprimanding us when we fell short in our responsibilities.

One of those lobby etchings is the preamble to the editorial board’s mission statement. It’s a quotation from Col. Robert McCormick, the longtime editor and publisher who commissioned the building of Tribune Tower: “The newspaper is an institution developed by modern civilization to present the news of the day, to foster commerce and industry, to inform and lead public opinion, and to furnish that check upon government which no constitution has ever been able to provide.”

Yes, Colonel McCormick, sir. We’ll try not to let you down.

We’d prefer to stay. The building’s permanence and solemnity symbolize the Tribune’s history — Sunday will be its 171st birthday — and enduring responsibilities. The spectacle of this place, with its playful Gothic sculptures and kooky artifacts from far-off lands plastered to the outside walls, is intoxicating. Ballplayers stepping onto the grass at Wrigley Field probably get the same jolt.

Yet we can’t mourn our departure because dynamic cities grow and evolve. The Tower stands on Michigan Avenue, and will continue to do so under landmark protection, but as part of a larger commercial development planned by its new owners.

To be overcome by sentiment would be to misread the turbulent nature of a great city. It would violate the Colonel’s mandate that the Chicago Tribune foster commerce and industry. Businesses, which create jobs, rise or fall based on their ability to compete. Sure, it would be nice if the Tribune stayed at 435 N. Michigan Ave., just as it would be nice if Marshall Field & Co., beloved as it was, existed today. But it became Macy’s because creative destruction is a key attribute of free enterprise. Having voiced that difficult reassurance many times to many others, we can’t grant ourselves a dispensation.

So the Tribune vacates Tribune Tower for spiffed-up space south of the Chicago River in One Prudential Plaza. Funny thing about the move across the river: In the early 20th century, the Tribune operated from a building at Madison and Dearborn. But according to historian Richard Norton Smith’s biography, “The Colonel,” McCormick saw potential in what was a scruffy neighborhood of soap and malt factories, so he built a printing plant and later the abutting Tribune Tower. “If I look to the south I see the Stockyards …,” he said. “Then I look to the north and I say, ‘There’s opportunity.’ ”

Cities evolve, and so will the Chicago Tribune, starting with the location of our newsroom. We will embrace the opportunity.